Talk:Eon: The Dark Lantern (Spring 2010)
Initial Musings (Marcus Fairlain, Fauxdin, scrying Ashra/Marcus So yeah. We've got Marcus Fairlan to, uh, interview. Depending on how good the dude's Will save is, maybe Claire can reach around in his head a bit if he's not forthcoming. Also, we need to go to Claire's place for her sidequest stuff. (With the way things are going, for all we know it'll turn out to be relevant to the main plot anyway...) If we need a place to hide out for a bit, the mind flayer city might actually be pretty good -- if we block up the passage in we made and deal with the route to the surface and that trapdoor Sluf's dudes used, it's fairly secure, and Ashra's okay with people hiding out there if the party stays pretty respectful. Fauxdin is probably gone, but the dude is at his more vulnerable since he's himself probably trying to figure out why he's got tentacles sprouting. I'm guessing there'll be some trigger for him regaining his memories of being Grax (we don't technically know he's Grax and not Xoth or even another mind flayer, but we all seem to be assuming he's Grax -- whichever he is, he's important) and while he's probably already away and even under the protection of someone or other, the thought that we could nab him before he touches the Death Note again and remembers everything is an attractive one. Things I want to know: *Does a Gating Die still take you for thirty seconds and then back again, or is it just Plane Shift with a favorites list? Either way, will Ethan and Ashra be able to use Knowledge Planes to work out the destination list? *To the party's knowledge, has anyone ever scried on Ashra or used any other divination spells to follow her? Chimegumi 21:50, December 13, 2009 (UTC) Not that I know of. I asked Ashra 1.0 and he says he doesn't remember any specific attempts, but there was something going on when we encountered the Furies and the strange rider at the end of Season Three. Deadelfwalking 22:08, December 13, 2009 (UTC) :Thank you. I should ask EonRPG, too -- if you're wondering, this interests me because I'm seriously considering the possibility that the Motherbrain also did something to Ashra to accompany the "good luck, son" which would protect her from Grax, because seriously I don't know why she was allowed to live. If she has permanent misdirection or nondetection and doesn't know it, that might explain why Grax didn't try to kill her. (She may not be that much of a threat, but he's smart enough to deal with even minor threats, I think. The other main reason I can think of is that there's something Grax wants done that he'll need Ashra and/or Xoth alive for.) Chimegumi 22:13, December 13, 2009 (UTC) :That makes sense. Maybe we should ask Fab D to test it out for us -- diviners are kind of a joke specialty, but he is the best person for the job... Deadelfwalking 22:17, December 13, 2009 (UTC) :I was thinking about that -- he IS the best person to test it, and he could easily do it, but for in-character reasons, someone other than Ashra would have to ask. If someone else will make the request, though, I'd like to know. Chimegumi 22:22, December 13, 2009 (UTC) :It's been confirmed that Ashra has never been scried on, nor has she been detected by anything but her own Detect Thoughts. Definitely want to test it next season... Chimegumi 06:15, December 14, 2009 (UTC) :If we timeskip at some point, or otherwise have a period of a few days where Claire could be peeking into people's minds, she could also look at Ashra's formative years; I'm kind of curious if there was anything else sealed away where the Motherbrain prepared her for this. Also, it's less dangerous than looking at Ethan by a long shot, and might give us information still. And there's Zaph and Claire, of course. Chimegumi 09:05, December 14, 2009 (UTC) :And apparently Ashra won't have memories of which thrall she was, because that thrall's brain was consumed in the process. So we can't play back Ashra, but we can play back Zaph. And I think this has been observed before, but if Grax was at school slightly before Ethan, that makes him really old for a mind flayer... (God damn it, Gove!) Chimegumi 07:32, December 14, 2009 (UTC) Oh, and what's an Amulet of Necromantic Might? If the Amulet Ashra picked up is one of them (if we can find out if it's one of them...) and it'd be useful to Ethan, she'd probably be willing to give it to him or swap amulets or something. Chimegumi 22:52, December 13, 2009 (UTC) Gauve was riiiiiiiiiiiiight Deadelfwalking 07:36, December 14, 2009 (UTC) If we timeskip at some point, or otherwise have a period of a few days where Claire could be peeking into people's minds, she could also look at Ashra's formative years; I'm kind of curious if there was anything else sealed away where the Motherbrain prepared her for this. Also, it's less dangerous than looking at Ethan by a long shot, and might give us information still. And there's Zaph and Claire, of course. Chimegumi 09:05, December 14, 2009 (UTC) If we ever come back and make a lair and have the city not assplode I'm aware all this may end up being totally unusable, but I figured I should share the farther thoughts I'm having on the possibility of making a base out of the illithid city: First of all, I think it'd be a useful thing to do because given Baldur is basically in civil war at this point, we're going to want to either get the hell out of town or find a place to hide out. We could try to hide out with the counter-revolutionaries, but I doubt they'll be as safe. And we don't really want to leave, since Claire still has to go home and we've got a captive to handle who might be hard to travel with. We could try to hit her house quickly and then drag Marcus out of town with us, but I'm more on the side of hiding out and going out into Baldur when relevant. If there's any way to catch that other mind flayer (I'm no longer assuming he was Grax) before he comes fully to his senses, it might save us a lot of trouble from an increasingly powerful rival. Anyway, depending on how next season starts, some plot thing or other may make all of this moot, but this is on the general assumption that we're going to want to have a place to hide out. As far as I know there are three ways out at the moment: the trapdoor Sluf et al used (I don't know how that leads out, or if it's supposed to be there or not. We'd have to investigate unless Ashra knows in character why that thing is there) the hole we made, and the illithid guildhome. The illithid guildhome we can probably rig with enough traps to make it hard to get through for anyone but us; I'm assuming it's deserted since we were able to get out of it without any trouble and, really, who'd live there? Assuming the party only leaves as a full group, we can Explosive Rune things up as long as there's a way to cover them (with cloth or something), because we can have Zaphodel cover the writing without any risk of inadvertently reading it. By PHB the caster should be able to designate people allowed to read the runes without detonating them, actually, but if that's not kosher in Eon we can go the covering and uncovering route. (I'll learn Explosive Runes if leveled, and if we don't level me this time around, Ethan can prep it from my spellbook.) We can blow up the tunnel in with bombs, and then if we can find some nonmagical grease we can smear that over the edge so that it's harder to get anything across even if intruders make the Will save. (Ashra can put the grease down, her will save will almost certainly protect her from the despair. Grease the spell has a duration measured in rounds, hence why I say nonmagical grease.) We can also put an alarm spell on the outside; it's in my spellbook. It'd only last 10-12 hours per cast, but I can prep two per day if that's what we want to do. Per PHB, you can set a password for alarm that allows you to go through without triggering, and it can be a mental alarm that would just ping me if anything went wrong. At the very least, I think we should search for anything that would help us. The counter-revolutionaries probably looted the place, but they may not have done so very well. At this point, since she's appointed herself messiah, Ashra pretty much figures the resources of the city are hers because she's the only one left. She still isn't willing to countenance messing things up any more than necessary, and she wants people to be respectful (there will be no more bathtub gin, I can tell you that) but we can check for stuff and hide out there until we're done in Baldur. I'm guessing that scroll of mass teleport Claire ended up with was from the city. Chimegumi 10:17, December 19, 2009 (UTC) Migration from Talk:Ashra If we go back to our seafaring or airfaring ways, words can barely describe how happy I am that this is on Zaph's spell list. Chimegumi 03:20, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :What's this about spell duration 10 minutes / level? Eonrpg 06:02, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :Well, even if you shorten it, hopefully it'll still last a storm. *shrug* Chimegumi 06:07, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :Wait, we're shortening the pro energy spells? Aw. Deadelfwalking 06:14, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :I hope we aren't. But even if we are, it's probably worth it for me anyway. >_< Chimegumi 06:19, December 27, 2009 (UTC) ::We're not shortening anything, I love this spell. Just saying that if you think sailing a boat through a thunderstorm over the north Atlantic will take less than 100 minutes, you've got something else coming to you... Eonrpg 06:40, December 27, 2009 (UTC) ::On the other hand, have you ever heard of the spell "Permanency?" Have Ethan explain it to you. Eonrpg 06:41, December 27, 2009 (UTC) ::Also, how would Permanency even work on something that has a limit for how much it'll absorb? It tops out at 120 points. Chimegumi 06:43, December 27, 2009 (UTC) ::Permanency won't work on the pro energy spells. Believe me, I considered it, but even if it was infinite, I don't know if it'd be worth the level and a half's worth of XP at this point -_- Maybe someday... Deadelfwalking 06:46, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :Okay, yes, but Zaph has more than one third level spell slot. ... And with my luck, the "until discharged" will happen first. I would say "no way will anyone spare the EXP for that", and then I remember we shelled out to turn Vlad into a black woman ... *sigh* Chimegumi 06:42, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :Yeah. I figured it'd work like that, and much as Ashra hates lightning, honestly she can sort of soak it. I may spam pro energy for the several casts it'll take to hold out through an entire storm, though. Chimegumi 06:48, December 27, 2009 (UTC) Just want to be clear that I wasn't trying to be a dick with the whole spell duration thing... just teasing, and I forgot for a moment that when I make a sly comment like that my word is, um, still law. Fact of the matter, I fucking hate lightning damage. The source of my trauma? Sorcerer spammers like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw Eonrpg 07:01, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :Haha, wow. That guy has a lot of spell slots. Well, if I were to devote all Zaph's 3rd level slots to PfE (which is a domain spell for her), I could keep it up for over eight solid hours, and if that's not enough to get out of the zappy part then it's time to talk someone into spelling me anyway. Chimegumi 10:35, December 27, 2009 (UTC) There is the ultimate Protection from Lighting, one that is permanent and complete, open only to those who delve in the deepest reach of the 3.5 PHB rules. It doesn't even require spell slots. It is called Total Cover. Make a cupola out of something with a high break DC, HP, and hardness. :I may have declared myself Cthulhu Jeebus, but I think I draw the line at living in a Popemobile. 'Cause seriously, that stuff gets at me EVERYWHERE. :/ And you can't really sail the ship that way. Chimegumi 21:39, December 27, 2009 (UTC) :I accept not wanting to live in a popemobile. But most lightning strikes at sea. And from Races of Raerun (the magic of sourceboks) give you Glasteel. Transparent mithril with the hardness of adamantium. Cost? $1000/lb for miscellaneous items. And how likely is is that you will be struck by natural lighting coming at you SIDEWAYS? ... Oh. Nevermind. Let's just hope that it doesn't attract static elecAlanChu 05:56, December 29, 2009 (UTC) Alternatively, possibly-real!Baudin might actually know how to sail, so maybe we can talk him into doing the dirty work. ... Watch the lightning somehow hit me anyway ... >_< Chimegumi 05:59, December 29, 2009 (UTC) :I do believe that real!Baudin not only could sail, but was in a state of endless despair that no one else knew which end of a ship was up (or could talk about it, which balances out to the same thing). Deadelfwalking 13:22, December 29, 2009 (UTC) :First, I love Glasteel. It's a great material. Second, if you're above deck, holding a bunch of rubber tires won't help you. Third, REAL BAUDIN FTW. Alan, he's open... Eonrpg 06:38, December 29, 2009 (UTC) ::See http://bit.ly/82kb4r for why I am only tempted to play him. RP doucheness vs 6th level wizard spells doucheness and eventual RP doucheness. And I know that this is almost certainly irrelevant to Eon...but I guarantee you there is a sor/Wiz spell out there that gives boosts to Wis and Survival checks. AlanChu 20:09, December 30, 2009 (UTC) :: We do have two to three wizards already, two of whom have access to decently high level spells, whereas we only have one rogue-type (who went into Assassin and thus doesn't have all the rogue stuff) and one cleric (who has no Int score and has to hang close to Ashra, so she's mostly restricted to buffing and healing). Chimegumi 01:44, January 1, 2010 (UTC) ::It largely depends on when EonRPG contacts me. I'll need final approval and feat selection criteria for my wizard, and while I could easily knock up a core cleric 11, I'll feel happier if I had some feat/PrC cheese sprinkles. Clerics are rather well suited to PrC's, but I don't know where EonRPG's limit are on that particular front. The only thing solid is that you will be getting a caster. 17:19, January 3, 2010 (UTC) The sad part is how even if everyone else has sailing covered, I still probably shouldn't hang out below decks because then lightning will somehow go through the ship to get to me and that might damage it. If there is a timeshifted!Ashra and we meet my first question may be "What the HELL did you do to the lightning gods?!" Chimegumi 06:46, December 29, 2009 (UTC) :Either keep you below decks and have lightning hit you, or keep you above decks away from people to that only you get hit. Conclusion: optimal allocation of resources calls for assigning Ashra to either the crows nest or in isolation at the wheel. Where lighting will easily hit you. I finally understand the weight of the cross you bear. AlanChu 20:09, December 30, 2009 (UTC) :It's not only a heavy cross, it's a conductive one. And that reasoning doesn't even take into account the whole part where, with the loss of Herr Doc, I am once again the Only Party Member Who Can Make A Goddamn Spot Check. Chimegumi 23:31, December 31, 2009 (UTC) Okay, added names of characters since we seem to have our lineup worked out, and ... I don't think the first episode can be called anything else, really... I gave Kruglor his own category because of the timeskip, but he probably also qualifies for Starring if Pundit23 would rather he's there. Chimegumi 02:13, January 20, 2010 (UTC) Also: EXP? If we're leveling current party members I'd like to put my name in since I'd get third level spells, but we might want to hold on for the newcomers. Chimegumi 02:16, January 20, 2010 (UTC) 9x01 I'm glad to see the picture, but it brings up some baaaaad memories. So much hand ballista. ._.;; Chimegumi 04:02, January 28, 2010 (UTC) *What was the skill for firing guns? Profession:(Gunnery) (Wis)? AlanChu 04:42, January 28, 2010 (UTC) *Gunslinger (wis). Available to Gunslingers, Cannon Snipers (see also: Admiral Whitebeard), Fighters, Dread Pirates, NPC Marines and Navy, Bombardiers, and all Goblins regardless of class. Not available cross class. Rolling untrained is... impossible. Eonrpg 02:02, January 29, 2010 (UTC) *Leilah would like to know if this is another "whatever" trip for DP Lucy or what the hell this is. Rolling Lore for who the fuck are they, you, him, it, and how much money they have or make next session. AlanChu 04:42, January 28, 2010 (UTC) *DP Lucy and the Infinite Horizons just finished delivering a Fate to fake!Baudin Dommelan for a shit-ass-ton of cold hard yellow, and, having realized that the fate was a superweapon, Lucy felt extremely guilty. Coming across Ethan, a friend of his (who was very noisy about stopping the Fate from going off) decided on a moment's notice to help him (at very least) GTFO of Baldur before Grax sent the l33t troops (you know, the ones who ride mature adult dragons like they were My Little Pony from the Season One Finale). Eonrpg 02:02, January 29, 2010 (UTC) **Just so you know, at first I was like: in my defense, I never specified what I wanted help with for the most part. Then I was like this: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Deadelfwalking 02:56, January 29, 2010 (UTC) *Leilah wants to know more about the mechanics of the cannons. Damage, range increment, ect. What's ghosty about Ghost Cannons? Will critical failures cause cannons to explode? AlanChu 04:42, January 28, 2010 (UTC) *Ghost cannon shells are loaded with ectoplasm, which means various supernatural boo-bearers pop up from each one AFTER they've exploded. 10d6 bludgeoning damage for a standard light (5 pound) cannon, 15d6 for a heavy (7 pound), and 6d6 for a swivel (1 pound) cannon. x3 crit, always threatens instant death on crit: Fort DC 10+(projectile mass, imperial lbs). Can be loaded with different kinds of shot, like chain for masts, grappling hooks for giant creatures, "fodder" for a cone of attack, or chain netting for creatures attacking from the water. Reliable range is 1000 ft, but up to a mile and a half on heavier 18-pound cannons. Reloading is a two-and-a-half round action requiring gunslinger checks = two full rounds + one move action. Can be completed in teams of up to 5, each check of 20 or above providing a +2 circumstance bonus on the next check. Cannons create smoke, causing concealment and blindness. Eonrpg 02:02, January 29, 2010 (UTC) *I think we all want to either avoid or gank Malicor now. I'l like to debreif everyone so we can figure out roughly how tough he is. AlanChu 04:46, January 28, 2010 (UTC) *This needs to happen once we're out at sea. NEW VILLIAN! Eonrpg 02:02, January 29, 2010 (UTC) * I was just saving time. {at sea} "Oh BTDubs, about that guy back there..." INFODUMP AlanChu 09:47, January 29, 2010 (UTC) *@EonRPG, what's the DC for firing a cannon? A Ghost cannon? Does Leilah find it easy? AlanChu 09:25, January 28, 2010 (UTC) (wis +6 + couple of ranks) *Firing is easy. Reloading... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbhSAyjeA74 Eonrpg 02:02, January 29, 2010 (UTC) **I'm going to take some liberties there and assume that you meant that firing a cannon is a Gunslinger (wis) check, and that Gunslinger checks can be made untrained, but cannot be taken cross class. Also, Leilah would have done this at sea: dry running a team of summoned celestial monkeys to see of they could make a semi-effective cannon crew. AlanChu 09:47, January 29, 2010 (UTC) **Firing a cannon is making a ranged attack roll with an exotic weapon (cannon). Reloading is a gunslinger check, which can be made untrained only in the presence of a Gunnery Sergent (not a class, a designation) with 5 or more ranks who makes his own check. **So firing requires no Gunslinger check, only a ranged attack roll (probably at a -4 unproficient penalty) as a standard action. Reloading requires Gunslinger checks for two full rounds + a move. Two people can spend 1 full round action each to reload a cannon in 1 round of combat time, plus a move and standard action next round to fire. Untrained Gunslinger checks can only be done within a certain distance from a Gunnery Sergeant within line of sight (who must have 5 or more ranks in Gunslinger). The Gunnery Sergeant must make his own check when letting us do our checks. If he fails, he fails to tell us how to do our own checks? The Gunnery Sergeant's check only determines whether we can make our own checks? AlanChu 20:30, January 29, 2010 (UTC) If we have to break a blockade in our current state, we'll really like Fab Dick with a full complement of spells. Not necessarily boom spells, but gtfo/hide spells. I estimate that we have enough healing to get the living at 60~70% full health, mostly through Zaph. My 1st level spells are most likely better off buffing the party's attack rolls and checks for manning the cannons. I can provide some cover and slows via one Ice Storm. That's basically all that I have, besides a quite decent longbow attack and some experience faffing about with cannons. AlanChu 04:42, January 28, 2010 (UTC) Lucy has 12 of the former and 6 of the latter. Meet your Average Human NPC Sailor lvl 2 STR 12 DEX 14 CON 10 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 8 HD: (2d6 avg 10) Atk: Cutlass +3, or Light Crossbow +4. Skills: Use Rope: +5, Gunslinger: +5, Profession Sailor: +7, Spot: +4, Heal: +2, Wilderness Lore: +4, Swim: +7. Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Guns (or balistias), Dodge Meet your Average Human NPC Marine lvl 3 STR 14 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 10 HD (3d10 avg 25) atk: Cutlass +6, or Cutlass and Short Sword +5/+3, or Pistol +6, or Musket +6. Skills: Gunslinger: +7, Profession Sailor: +4, Spot: +4, Wilderness Lore: +2, Swim: +5. Feats: Two Weapon Fighting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Guns (or balistias), Shipbound Mobility. Zaph has remaining 2x 3rd level spells, 2x 2nd level spells (and one of them is Calm Emotions which I'd really rather keep for Ethan), 4x 1st level and 6x 0th level. Not that much. If we really need heals, I can break out the wand of Cure Moderate, but it's low on charges (18 and I want to conserve them as much as possible). I still have pretty good attack power since I have most of my third level slots left (though I have to cast from my spellbook and take the full round, because I don't have anything prepared in those slots) and can fire from wands until they run out of charges. And I have all my at-will stuff, as always. Also, if we run into people for whom it'd be useful (another boat, etc) I can take the full round to cast Disguise Self and make myself properly look like Grax. You know, like I should have done in the first place. u_u;; Chimegumi 04:53, January 28, 2010 (UTC) Given the gtfo options we've been given, spell-wise, Fab D showing up with a full complement of them would be as likely to dump us in the frozen wastes of Goneril or the sea between Malvont and the Southern Continent as help us, so I'm a little leery of wishing for some Teleports and so on when we've been, ah, heavily discouraged from taking that option in the past. That was a marvelously run-on sentence. I will save my out-thinking of the Ruin of Baldur for Friday, but at a glance, it looks like the blockade is already plenty broken and Baldur doesn't have the resources to put one up on short notice, let alone sustain one. I think we should focus more on getting information as quickly as possible -- Sending, Message, Dream -- and making sure everyone is back up to speed. Another thing to worry about: cannons need ammunition. Lucy stopped shooting pretty quickly into that battle. Do we even have any more ammunition or the means to load and fire a cannon? I will stop over-thinking things now; your ideas are probably far better than mine. Deadelfwalking 06:28, January 28, 2010 (UTC) If at all possible I think we should go the talking our way through route. I can do a better Grax disguise if we run into Baldur people, we can work on bluffing our way past anything else ... etc. Obviously there are things we can't bluff our way past (dargons, sea monsters, lightning storms) but we should probably try to go the talking route as much as we can until we get a chance to sleep. Chimegumi 06:46, January 28, 2010 (UTC) I like the idea of a bluff party and everyone being invited. Fair warning, though -- if things look even remotely calm, dead!Ethan will be finding some quiet corner somewhere and doing the undead equivalent of passing the fuck out, since he is kind of um literally dead weight right now. Deadelfwalking 06:57, January 28, 2010 (UTC) I would love to hear about the Teleport rules later. Agree with Baldur ineffectiveness: replace with privateers/Goneril. We don't necessarily have to even be on deck if we encounter a ship: Lucy damn better be able to bluff, and if not, meeting 'Grax' in the captains cabin might sell the notion of fleeing/retreating. Fab Dick spells: more like fogs, stinking clouds, summoning creatures on their decks and blasting down masts (yes, a use for evocation). I'll assume Ashra have something in mind for explaining why it's on a boat, fleeing alone with no retinue (particularity a certain undead?resurrected wizard). Leilah is wondering if a Celestial Monkey is smart enough to at least act as a powder monkey in case of boom boom pow. When we do sleep, I have Teleport (and intimate knowledge of the Southern Continent), Augery, Divination, Commune (might need to burn 100 party XP for that, so that's a last-ditch resort), and Speak with Dead. Hi, you seem to be obsessing over that guy...is that Marcus Farlain? Hey, I could, you know, ask his corpse. For you. Since you apparently killed him. Also clerical bardic knowledge, so we might have access to obscure knowledge like history/geographry/nobility. PS Knowledge domain gives me +1 CL to divination spells. So if Fab Dick is less than 11th level, I can scy harder. Also: Aura Laurellin, Circle of the True, Goneril assassins mounted on wyverns, did we get enough supplies, is the ship repaired, Planar-Bound assassin devils sent from any number of factions, kracken, Kuo-toa, sailing into a portal to the 89th level of the Abyss, the Shadowsea, in which Dagon, Lord of the Depths, lurks, and drowning because I had to pawn my backup chainmail shirt. /paranoia AlanChu 09:25, January 28, 2010 (UTC) Plenty of different explanations, but I'm likely to just go with "You are not one to evaluate the plans of the Supreme Dictator" etc if they look like a mook. Otherwise, I had to sneak out of the city quietly, imply stuff fucked up the ability to teleport, etc. If they see through the illusion, we're fucked as far as people who actually know Grax, but if it's a mook who just noticed the mindflayer actually looks different, I can say that was the illusion and this is the real Grax, etc. etc. A long shot, but anything to stay out of combat. Hopefully Claire will help me with the bluffs since she is much better at it. If I can get them where others can't see, I can fall back on Charm Monster and Suggestion if the bluffing falls through. Oh, and Ethan and I pretty much decided that when we do the Grax act, he's my pet fake Ethan of Malvont, to explain what he's doing there. That's what we were going to do before my leg asplode thanks to that darn ballista. Speak with Dead does grant Marcus a Will save since he was almost certainly not neutral good. (I'm guessing he was lawful evil, and Zaph is lawful neutral, so we don't have someone to get by that requirement. I'm the only LE party member, and I'm um not a cleric. Also with people of the same alignment on both sides of this war ALL THE TIME, I'm guessing that requirement would be changed anyway.) In re: paranoia -- Aura and the Circle are probably either dead or deactivated because they weren't useful any more, and even if they're alive they've been willing to let us live before, I'd be surprised if assassins were willing to come anywhere near Baldur when it's this on fire plus they probably don't know where we are yet, as long as you like pita pockets we are good for supplies, I don't think the ship was that damaged and we can have a Make Whole or several tomorrow for anything that was, fuck the kracken and the Kuo-toa, hopefully my obscene and spyglass-assisted spot check is good enough to spot portals. Chimegumi 18:05, January 28, 2010 (UTC) Also re: paranoia: Ethan will be putting the OH HALE NO on anything that could even remotely be considered hostile behavior towards Goneril. We've already done enough damage in that direction, and I am hoping (desperately, and probably in futility) that we have not dicked ourselves over on that diplomatic front past all repair. Were I a pirate, I'd be hanging out just on the fringes of the battle: not close enough to tangle with Baldur, but close enough that anyone fleeing might not have taken the opportunity to rest first. So, that's a concern. I don't know what Fab D's forbidden schools are, either: I think he cast Mage Armor at one point, so hopefully it isn't Conjuration, but if it is, your desired spell list is going to be off the table, I fear. Fear not about Marcus. I have, um. Plans. Deadelfwalking 22:21, January 28, 2010 (UTC) Another non-combat idea: Given the time to cast it from my spellbook, I can manage Major Image now, which can be fairly large. This could be enough to make a fake ship, albeit an unmanned one. (Well, I could give it a pilot with Minor or Silent Image, but I can only control two illusions at once, so I can't give it a whole crew. Someone trusted with a good Use Magic Device could use my wand of Silent Image to give it another two crewmembers, but I like to conserve wands, so that'll only be if it were getting close enough for anyone to get a good look.) That could draw off pirates if I can see them, or at the very least waste some of their cannonballs. Barring shitty rolls or actual traps like lurking behind Obscuring Mist, we should have pretty good ability to see people from far off. If worst comes to worst and we're actually caught in combat, Fab D and I will probably be blowing shit up (I have about five different ways to still do 6d6 to people, if with somewhat of a delay, and if he's got his spells then he probably has better evocations on hand. If we get close enough I can mind blast etc. as well) and I, at least, can try to get some apes to escape on the ship if that'll actually help, or even a shark or squid or something. With the exception of my stupid broken limb, which I will hopefully have time for Zaph to set before anything more goes down, I'm pretty close to normal. Claire and Kruglor are I believe the two who ended up fatigued; we should probably heal Claire so she doesn't end up collateral damage, and if we can get her back up she can probably still snipe okay if we can persuade her to. I don't know how much Kruglor got messed up tangling with Malicor, but I'm guessing more than we can easily heal him from. Hopefully he can at least fire his pewpew lasers from the boat. Apple I don't think we can get to full health given how much hurt he took, unfortunately, and Ethan's downright useless. Zaphodel would actually be decent behind a cannon if there's enough ammo; her Wis isn't as good as mine, but her ranged to hit is much better, so she might wind up being a better gunner if Int isn't required. Leilah would be better but you might want to spend more effort buffing others etc. Chimegumi 00:34, January 29, 2010 (UTC) Also: I don't personally expect to get benefits from something Kruglor picked up, but those of you he doesn't maintain distaste for might want to ask about that box of first aid he grabbed... Chimegumi 00:42, January 29, 2010 (UTC) My remaining buffs are 40 or 50 ft radius bursts. As long as there is no cover between me and my allies, I could buff you all with a standard action for minutes/CL. Lesser restorations will have to be Zaph, as I'm all burned out (and am pretty sure that spontaneous casting of healing spells do not include the Restoration spell-line). Krugulor dropped the Box With the Red Cross on the round near Marcus, and I don't think he picked it back up after Malicor. I do know that Eric was commiserating over having dropped it, but that was before Malicor was taken out of the picture. AlanChu 09:47, January 29, 2010 (UTC) Zaph had one lesser restoration remaining and she burned it critically failing to heal my leg. Luckily I think I'm the only one with stat damage or broken bones. We were already pretty burned out from S's Tower and all that. I thought/hoped Kruglor grabbed that when he got to da choppa boat, but that may well be wishful thinking. Chimegumi 17:01, January 29, 2010 (UTC) As long as we can get 1 hours uninterrupted rest for Krugulor, we can get rid of his exhaustion. Fatigue on that crazy girl-child and the old dwarf isn't nice, but managable in the short term given how many restorations we have. -6 on Str and Dex is a heavy burden for a fighter. 9x02 So I come into the party with a debt of 1800 GP, take one share in reverse seniority order, and have no obligation to pay back the initial debt before spending any money on equipment. AlanChu 11:17, January 30, 2010 (UTC) : Yes. You'll pay off the debt in shares, so depending on how much the next set of shares are worth, you'll skip that many until you've made up 1800 GP. I think it would be more fair if you took at least one share from each set of loot we come across until your debt is repaid, if you don't mind taking that much longer to repay said debt. Alternately, every time you would take a monetary share rather than an item, you could dedicate that to repaying your debt. : You and Apple will choose shares first, then Kruglor the Redeemed, Claire, and Ashra, and then Ethan. Depending on Fab D's status, if he begins taking shares, he'll be taking them along with Kruglor. Shares usually even out between 500 and 1000 GP, so it shouldn't take you too long to make it up. Ethan will take care of outfitting Leilah if necessary, because he cares more about everyone having enough equipment and the party having enough shared funds than he does having money of his own. Does that make sense/anything you would like changed? (Also, Karijou, if you're reading this, is that all cool with you?) Deadelfwalking 23:06, January 31, 2010 (UTC) :Very well, agreed. I shall pay at minimum one (1) share of any treasure the party encounters and subsequently claims towards the party for the fulfillment of my debt towards the party. Equipment: some sort of light armor (I'm willing to wait for or pay half cost of a normal or MW chainshirt),, more longbow arrows, , shelter, a change of clothes, cold and hot weather gear, a couple of tower shields for the party (you can still use them as cover even if you are not proficient in their use), the best reach weapon you can find (not necessarily MW), more daggers (punch daggers and kukris are just fine as well), and MW armor/shield spikes in that order of importance. I'll suggest that Ethan consider the fact that she can take full cover behind a tower shield and be protected from Turn Undead. Also great for covering our backs while running away from arrowy death. Simple +2 magical enchantments can be taken care of by Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestment, so there isn't an immediate need for magical weaponry for me. I could also share the spells with the party, if interested. AlanChu 20:37, February 1, 2010 (UTC) Thought about it a bit and Claire is probably not misdirected. I think those spells (it's so different from the SRD version that I'm thinking of it as a modified Nondetection at this point) generally cover objects carried by the relevant person. The drow leader was able to scry on his possessions when she robbed him. It's still worth testing if Fab D is around through the rest of the boat ride. Chimegumi 22:52, January 31, 2010 (UTC) That makes a lot of sense! Ethan is carrying something he stole from Pyotar (...several somethings. Um. It wasn't deliberate.), Ashra has definitely gone through Fauntleroy's things in the past, and Fab D probably has something from Mr. Gucci among his things. Deadelfwalking 22:59, January 31, 2010 (UTC) Wait, like they misdirected objects and then it transferred to us? That would be fascinating. I just meant you can't get around misdirection etc. by scrying on someone's robe instead of them. Once you no longer have the item on your person, it's usually fair game. (This is why I'm going to carry that amulet and not attempt to hide it with Zaph's possessions.) Chimegumi 23:09, January 31, 2010 (UTC) Or perhaps the objects are so closely tied to their former owner that they...overwhelm whatever we are. That really only makes sense in my case, but if there are such things as scrying aids, I'd also think that there are such things as unscrying aids, as it were? Deadelfwalking 23:31, January 31, 2010 (UTC) Leilah could try dispelling, layering our own Misdirections on top of possessions to override any enchantments on them, casting True Seeing to see if anything has been transmuted or polymorphed, or use Analyze Dweomer to magic wand items (needs a 1500 GP gemstone material focus). While we have multiple Mirrors of True Seeing, do you really trust them given their provenance (all from the Hall of Many Things I presume)? The possibility that they are a scrying aid? Also, if you can make a case, I can swap my 4th level domain spell from Dimensional Door to Detect Scrying: a 24 hour 40 ft radius from self spell with no save or SR. PS: At least for the duration of the voyage, I think you can make the case. She's also interested in Identifying all of your items. She would like to talk with Claire later about party finances and supplies. AlanChu 20:37, February 1, 2010 (UTC) I think possessions are covered by Misdirection; it acts basically like modified Nondetection, which explicitly covers gear. This would explain why people haven't honed in on all those amulets Ethan, Fauxdin, and now I have been schlepping around. Testing the Mirrors of True Seeing is a good idea, but they've been accurate so far. Unless we see discrepancies, I don't think we need to bother doing that more than once. The mirrors have no particular reason to be a scrying aid; if they're messed up, it's general Olidamarra likes to mess with people messed up, whereas Zaph was purchased from someone who could have easily been bribed by people who have a vested interest in saddling me with a scrying aid. Olidamarra may be an epic douchebag, but I don't think he cares enough to take sides in this shit. Also, we already had the mirrors by the Battle of Malvont. The reason I guessed I was Misdirected is that after the Battle of Malvont when all the other mindflayers left, I would expect Grax to find out that one mindflayer not on his side was still around, scry on me, and send something elite to assassinate or capture me. Also, despite all the dramatic reveals ("It's Ethan of Malvont!!"), if it were possible to scry on Ethan I think a lot more people would've come to destroy him by now. If we'd been carrying scrying aids, it would be the same as not having the Misdirection that's been saving our asses. Zaph just joined the party about a month ago; since we got her, we ran into Bookish right in our path (what was he doing there, anyway?) and Charilus came after us in the guildhome. I don't know what I'll do if she is a scrying aid; probably research ways to dispell it and, if it'll have any effect, keep her Misdirected as long as possible. Detect Scrying might be useful. I'm hoping to test if Zaph is a scrying aid by having Fab D scry on her, and see if that's easier than it should be. I think we've got everything identified right now; Fab D and I can also cast that, and I will identify any item as long as I don't have to sink the cost of the material component. If the material component being identified as "arcane" means you don't have to sink the 100 gp pearl per cast, then please, go ahead next time we've got stuff to check out. Otherwise, the two of us can split the duty for spell slot purposes. (Fab D is sometimes kind of a douche about it.) In other news, did we ever search Marcus? It seems like we should have, but I don't recall anyone ever getting a list of his stuff. We may not be able to res him (I'm willing to have Zaph try now that the bros are out of the way, but I'm doubtful) but we should totally rob him. He had to have been carrying something to help Fauxdin out... even if we just pick up a weapon that way, I think there are several party members who could use one. Chimegumi 21:33, February 1, 2010 (UTC) 9x03 Requesting prices (as far as is discernible) and weights for the items I can't find on the srd. I know prices vary regionally, I'm just looking for a base price for accounting purposes. Items in question: *smoke buttons *weight of the cryptex (assuming it's pretty much priceless to us, so.) *Purple Whiskey (mini bottle), Remé Chartain du Malvont XXVI (mini bottle, flask) *Weight of the book by Grax (similarly, probably not getting sold) *What type of Bag of Holding is the one we found? If it's not standard SRD, what's it's carrying capacity and standard weight? (and price if applicable/known) *Heavy pistol *Cannonball *Pricing estimate on FFF powder Anyone remember how many holy symbols we picked up in the Ruins of Eldergrin in 7x02? Long shot, I know, but if it's in someone else's notes, they're worth enough that I'd like to be able to replace "Lots." with a number, especially for purposes of unbreaking the spreadsheet. xD;; Also, what is up with the Widowmaker? I have stats for it here, and I'm wondering if they're worth keeping given we saw it sail off full of civilians. Does the Jade Kracken III officially belong to The Company, or is it just Vishnu's toy that we're sailing around in? I'm not sure if I should be keeping track of its cost etc. Chimegumi 19:53, February 6, 2010 (UTC) Also: We may want to divide loots next episode, we picked up a decent amount of stuff. Chimegumi 19:54, February 6, 2010 (UTC) Lazy photoshop & drawings of the three relevant symbols added. If I fucked up the last one because I can't help parsing it as kanji/hanzi, please fix it or tell me what's wrong with it. I tried to stay as close to AlanChu's drawing as possible, but with this many copies over, I worry about losing fidelity to the original. Chimegumi 03:39, February 7, 2010 (UTC) We might as well put the Widowmaker stats up on the Widowmaker page just so they're somewhere, and also because...the Widowmaker page is empty. I think the Bag of Holding held 100 cubic feet? Deadelfwalking 03:49, February 7, 2010 (UTC) Loot *We might want to test the heavy pistol to measure up how much of a threat it is (Malicor, we're looking at you.) Damage, reload, time, range, ability to break through Wall of Stone. *The Bag of Holding is purse sized, with an internal capacity of 100 ft^3. *Assuming we have time to get full plate refitted (SRD cost 2d4 X 100 GP), I'll like to spend any monetary share in getting fitted for the +1 light fortification armor. Zaph can be fitted to my MW full plate, and can take my MW Heavy Shield, since I've moved to wielding 2-handed weapons. *The Life-Suture would be great in a 1v1 slugfest, but in an age of cannon it's hard to get into melee before being nearly killed several times over. Depending on the relative pricing between the weapon and defensive items in Goneril, I suggest that we see how much we can get for it. :*As I said over email, I think that we may want to hang onto it in case we get into fights that aren't cannon-tastic. Also, if Old Man Kruglor ever gets up from his nap, he might kick ass with it given how much damage he can do. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Logistics *Could I have an inventory of onboard powder and shot according to type and weight? Also the weight of the powder charge for each gun weight. Details of currently loaded shot, and a teaser for the capabilities of other rounds and where I might find them. *If FFF powder can be safely used in our cannons, we should totally store it. Cannons are our bane and blessing, for while 3rd lvl fighters can unleash massive damage on us, we can use cannons in counter-battery to knock out their cannons, along with the entire building. Preferably, we can do this next time before they shoot us in our torsos. The point of limited supplies is important. We are on the run from everyone, and our great equalizer is only reliably supplied by pirate towns and ?Barrensburg?. Especially if we decide to go back to scy and raid missions to investigate this Scarlet Brotherhood further, we are going to need canons. *Do we still have any of ballista that armed the Jade Kracken III before her upgrade? They may do half the damage of even the smallest cannon, but there is something to be said for it's ammunition cost. Plus, maybe technological advances have made one-man repeating ballistae a reality in Eon. Perfect for accurate and rapid fire, something that cannons cannot do economically. Pricing and buying locations for ballista, preferably ones that are repeating, require one person to crew it, and reloads as quickly as possible, if they exist. *It might be in our interest to try modifying the Jade Kracken's loadout to favor more and lighter cannons. This might reduce firing costs to the point where we can economically call down airstrikes multiple times per encounter. Upgrades *How fast is the Jade Kracken? *There is a need for a way to deal heavy air-support damage on a single target accurately, especially one moving. A scoped 7 ft long 0.75 calibur revolver rifle for Snake/Liquid? *Net cannon: can fire net to entangle target and draw them into the ship, for either medivac or nonlethal capture (cast Ghoul Glyph on the net). *Wands of Faerie Fire (Druid 1) to mark targets. Requires DC 20 UMD check to cast, since none of us have access to Druid spells. :*We've got Silent Image for now. And that check is trivial for me and not too hard for Ethan either. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *Signal items. Smokesticks, Glowrods, wands of Color Spray, Dancing Lights. Maybe time-delayed lights so we can sneak in, mark the targets, then have the Jade Kracken III swoop in. Signals for "Cannon", "Infantry", "Archers", "Target", "Pickup", "Warning". *Multiple shot grenade launcher to scatter "whatevers" on the battlefield. Alchemical Fire, enchanted Deeper Darkness, leaflets, caltrops, holy water... Ganth/Goneril *Leilah will be in business attire, playing up the lawyer/accountant/notary, with a full complement of GTFO spells. One truth detection spell in case Barron Ganth allows it. :* Sounds like as good a use for you as any, but 1. we need to make sure the Three Musketeers are exactly on the same page before we meet with him and 2. don't gain any more notoriety than necessary, I think we can really use this "at least one party member is not a wanted criminal absolutely everywhere ever" thing. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*Anything that can help us throw Ethan and Zaph over our shoulder and run away faster would be nice. Disguises for Leilah before meeting the Aetheist in Cheif may be warranted. AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*Honestly? If Ganth decides he doesn't like us, we are fucked period. We've reached the point where we can run away from Charilus and Malicor and those guys, but I don't think we can just get away if things go south. Precautions are fine, but I'm not going to trust any of them and I'll assume we should focus our efforts on not letting it get that bad. Zaph Sent to him before in plain clothes and as humbly as possible, and he didn't seem offended. You should probably look non-cleric-y, but I think attempts to actively pretend not to be a cleric might be offensive to his intelligence. Chimegumi 21:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*I really want Ganth to at least not want to stab me in the eyes, and we are so totally boned if he decides that >:( is the right response to us. I think we might want to plan a little more on the side of "let's avoid that possibility" than for "and when Ganth starts eyelasering us". Deadelfwalking 22:02, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :::*There is always the chance that Ganth will act through an emissary. But point noted; I just wanted to look like a diffrent aasimar/humanoid. The suit is more for "I'm not wearing armor" rather than "Hai, I am a rogue, lawz". AlanChu 23:53, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :::*Since he sent the invitation to Ethan in person, I'm guessing he'll meet with us in person, too. Especially since amulets are such Srs Business. I have to wonder why he's giving us this invitation; I poofed back into real-time literally less than 30 feet away from him, and his immediate response was to take the fate. There's no tactical reason he couldn't have run over to me, fried the shit out of me, grabbed the amulet, then abducted the fate. So ... maybe he likes us? ._.;; Chimegumi 00:47, February 10, 2010 (UTC) *Before we arrive, I'll like to run a experiment with Word of Recall. Drop me off and have me teleport a mile or two back to the ship. Long range teleportation may need a universe port, but maybe short range 'porting can work safely? AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *Just in case we decide that Barron Ganth is a little sketchy: Ethan could Magic Jar someone. Possessing a cleric may tickle his fancy enough to distract him from the insult. AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :*I don't understand what you mean by this. Chimegumi 21:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :*Magic Jar is up there with Death Knell on the list of "spells that Ethan will only cast if someone is either a) preparing to cast it on him or b) already touching him and halfway through casting Heal". It does weird-ass things to souls and the likelihood of a side effect of "souls vanish, everyone dies" is on the high side. Also, appearing to possess a cleric won't do much. I can't really act through them. My corpse just looks very corpse-like, and whoever I'm possessing effectively dies. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Scarlet Brotherhood *If the Scarlet Brotherhood is linked to Cuthbert which is linked to a river...MY river... *Scan the crew, ship, prisoner and his possessions for magical or mundane marks. Check for markings that might link the item to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Check the ship with True Seeing for Tyro. :*Tyro did not show up on Detect Thoughts, and he's never been able to shield from it before. We should scry for him, though, to see where he did go. Checking the dwarf etc. is still a good idea. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *Just in case we start encountering vampires, everyone get a holy symbol (preferably one that you can believe in), several flasks of Holy water, and maybe drop by the kitchen for some garlic. :*We have a full complement of holy symbols in party loot, and I can pass them out if necessary. Ethan and I aren't really very god-ish, though; the one god I'd consider asking may not even have a holy symbol. Zaph is immune to negative levels and energy drain, so you and her may be the heroes of the day if it's vampire o'clock. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*I am not naturally immune to negative levels or energy drain. We can easily spread Death Ward on the party. AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*We've dealt with a vampire before with 100% beatdowns, no holy symbols etc. required. However, I flat-out refuse to finish off any more vampires by eating their souls, so I can do some in-character research to see how we should deal with that. Energy drains and negative level inflicting spells almost always have positive effects on the undead, so I should be fine. Also, I am avoiding the hell out of any and all gods. Boccob probably wouldn't care about any of us, though. Also, on a quick scan of what Death Ward does, it won't give me any protection that I don't have thanks to being undead. If there is an energy drain spell out there that injures undead that I don't know about, I'd be kind of bonerated, but it probably won't protect me from positive energy effects, which is what I'd need. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*If we think it's going to be relevant, I can have Zaph prep Protection from Energy (positive) for you, but that won't help with fancy effect things, just from people poking you with Cure spells. Chimegumi 00:47, February 10, 2010 (UTC) *New 6th Divination spell; Analyze Dweomer. If Arcane Sight can see the strength and schools of active magic effects, this scans for spell, purpose, and caster level. Time to rescan the party? AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Bastard Things to Do *Use Minor Creation (1 hr / lvl) to encase a stone with Deeper Darkness (1 day/lvl) cast on it (with a ceramic shell to shield the darkness)and a vial of Alchemical Fire. Throw it into a building. Suddenly 60 ft radius is in shadowy darkness, everyone is moving at half speed, and the bar is on fire. Throw a bunch of them from behind the ship as it retreats to sow confusion. :*I don't think Ethan can cast that, and I know I can't so why don't we just use real rocks? Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :**I do have Deeper Darkness. I just don't use it...at all ever, basically. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::*Darkvison is ineffective against darkness spells. Only some devils have that power. Ethan and I can cast it. Also, it's less for dealing damage than creating delaying situations. Also, why would we ever want to throw a 60 ft radius sphere of darkness when we will be in the radius of effect while we throw if we can ever help it? We could just put them in a basket and shake them out over the town, but then it would be more difficult to carry them around on our persons for emergency use. AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *Use straight Alchemical Fire to sow confusion just as Ashra did this session. Use it to distract opponents while we focus on our real target. *Use the same trick, but with Darkness. Activate Daylight SLA of aasimars. Fight in the 60 radius of daylight, then end the SLA and retreat. Opponents now fumbling in the dark. :*Most of the party has straight-up darkvision. Ethan might only have low-light, I'm not sure. So we can, in fact, fight in the shade. I like the idea of more alchemist's fire, but we don't have much right now. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :**Only low-light. I have undead half-elf eyes. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *See if the swivel cannon can shoot a shot enchanted with Light/Darkness/D. Darkness and not shatter on impact. Experiment with any low velocity cannons we have around. Misc *My Resist Energy now grants 30 resistance to the energy type of your choice. Death Ward, Protection from Negative Energy, Resist Negative Energy, and Spell Resistance all make dropping Neg Balls on the party a viable option. :*Zaph has Protection from Energy as a domain spell, plus I know it and it'll protect up to 120 points or 100 minutes (her cast) or 72 points for an hour (my cast). I usually have her prep it for lightning, but she could do negative energy if we're planning on it. Ethan needs a 17 or above to beat my SR, so unless it might kill me, I'm generally okay with being nuked. Next level I'll probably go for Master of Shaping so my pathetic little 6d6 blasts don't hit anyone. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *If I go nova with buffs, I can give the party a +3 (+1 luck +2 moral) bonus to saves for at least a minute. Morale bonuses don't apply to mindless creatures, sorry Zaph. :*I should actually get clarification on this. Zaph has Int -- and is generally mindless, but I'm not sure she technically is, because she was affected by at least one fear effect (Athena's scream) and makes her own Will saves against such things. I don't really know what's up with that. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) *Jade Kracken HP: 2906/3000 (96.7%) AlanChu 00:55, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Are we the Lone Gunmen or the Three Musketeers? Both are acceptable, but if we are the Lone Gunmen we should start assassinating more people with cannon fire AlanChu 15:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) :*We're the Lone Gunmen. Three Musketeers just amused me. Chimegumi 21:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Notes on a smaller party Since we have a main party of three people and four circulatory systems, there are some things that I can actually do that I couldn't before. *If it becomes relevant, I can Astral Project the entire party including Zaph. (I get me + four others, and I need to take three.) There's still the danger of going through the astral plane, risks of having our silver cords cut, etc so it's not something I have any intention of throwing around, but it's a comparatively safer method of visiting other planes. *Zaph has enough slots to Death Ward the three of us that need it. *I can give us all (lesser) invisibility. How quietly the clanking clerics can walk is another matter. *If I use two minor images and lend Ethan the wand of Silent Image, we can create an illusory version of our party which we can practically control as long as we can keep concentrating. (Each of us can run two illusions at once because they take an action each to keep up.) *As shown in the battle before, Zaph can give two of the three of you SR. If Leilah can give it to herself (or to another of you three) then we can keep everyone SR'd before major battles. :*I can make room for that. But any more is going to come out of my bread & butter spells. AlanChu 23:53, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Chi is a language geek Since I was told I'm allowed to know what Leilah's symbol is if I can figure it out, I went ahead and figured it out. Roughly as I guessed, but somewhat underwhelming: http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E6%B2%B3 Chimegumi 04:06, February 7, 2010 (UTC) Moar language nerdery: combination of radicals "water" and "can/cannot". This is a fairly standard kanji, but it's not the one you'd usually use. The one I see more often is this one: http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%B7%9D which, by a process that probably won't make sense if you don't speak Japanese, is actually equivalent to those three strokes on the left hand side. Here's the radical on the other side: http://jisho.org/kanji/details/%E5%8F%AF It's in "chance" and similar words, and in Chinese it's the first part of "can" (as in "can do"). Put them together, and they just make "river". Readings are kawa (Japanese reading -- most common), ka (Japanese from Chinese reading), and in names, kax (ka with a small tsu; put emphasis on the syllable following), ko, and kou. Putting together the two radicals in their independent forms does not produce a recognizable word. Homophones for "kawa" are "matte", "a good story," "leather", "side (as in 'to be on someone's side'), "covering/shell/skin", "case (as of a watch)". In Chinese, the same character is also valid, and is pronounced he2, or "he" with a rising intonation. It also means "river". Write "mountain" after it and it becomes "The beautiful land of one's country". Homophones for "he2" are "to dry off", "to cut off from", "stone/pit (as of a peach)/nucleus/examine or check", "expose someone's misdeeds", "particle denoting interrogative (basically, a question mark)", "lotus", "close/shut/join (make a joint effort)/agree", "jaw", box or case", "rice" and "harmony". A word of caution on the homophones: They are extremely common in Japanese and especially Chinese. They are also written completely differently. As this was written, it is unambiguously "river". It pretty much can not mean any of the homophones; they're included to satisfy my nerdery and in case this seems likely to become that sort of puzzle. But mostly to satisfy my nerdery, because I don't see them being that relevant. Also worth noting that in Japanese and probably in Chinese as well (it's unclear from my dictionary) this would be the suffix attached to the name of a river to mark it as the "____ River". Okay, I *think* I'm done for now. I guess we can tell who likes putting skill points into Speak Language IRL... u_u;; Chimegumi 04:22, February 7, 2010 (UTC) Share my pain with strings of meaningless characters In re. the numbers scrawled at the back of the book. Mostly this is to point out what doesn't work because I've spent about an hour and no one else should have to spend this particular hour. I know we probably won't solve this soon but I was bored. The code is 44-75-70-6c-69-63-69-74-6F-75-73-20. Given that it has both upper and lowercase letters, I guessed that it was in base (26+26+10 = 62). Actually I guessed base 6''1'' and had to go back and redo most of this, but that's beside the point. Converting to base 62, we get: *44 = 252 *75 = 439 *70 = 434 *''6c = 384 OR 410'' *69 = 381 *63 = 375 *69 = 381 *74 = 438 *''6F = 413 OR 263'' *75 = 439 *73 = 437 *20 = 124 The italics indicate numbers which have letters in them. Now, I don't know if a-z comes before or after A-Z. The first number is assuming a=10 in base 10, while the second assumes A = 10 in base 10. This is as far as I think is likely to be actually useful, given the gibberish I got with everything that comes after. Then I tried applying it to the text of the book it was written on. I did it starting at Chapter One; some of the chapters (Chapter Nine particularly) are too short to support it, and also I'm not quite bored enough to do it at each chapter yet. The numbers are all low enough to keep it within Chapter One, though the system can cover enough numbers to cover every word in the book as posted. I may try later if nothing better comes up. Dismaying results: Not including "Chapter One" as the first two words: Full words: raised the Charilus (by/Grax) the retracted the of (his/such) the senators too Letter by letter, omitting spaces and punctuation: ene(y/l)tbtr(y/n)nue Letter by letter, including spaces and punctuation: of (a/,)nHnt(r/e)fts Including "Chapter One" as the first two words: Full words: and senators the (senate/opinion) most his most Xoth (should/safely) senators and senate. Letter by letter, omitting spaces and punctuation: tte(u/n)rare(m/r)tBo Letter by letter, including spaces and punctuation: a(./n)atae(r/o) hm (Note: this begins with two spaces) Since none of those even look anagrammable, I then tried Mod 26 and mapping each number onto a letter. This produced the equally disappointing: rwr(t/t)qv(w/c)wut Wut, indeed. Comments, suggestions, explanations of facepalm-inducing issues with my math, etc. are welcome. If it really should be Base 61 instead of 62 for some reason, I've got the stuff for that too, but it's no more plausible. And yes, I have no life and too much time on my hands. *cough* Chimegumi 08:46, February 8, 2010 (UTC) More things that don't work too well: Xenteroth's Sequence, without "Chapter One", from the book ignoring the scribble for now: When when Chairman Grax’s was the struggle on the The But, it to opinion... (might be more, but I gave up) Same, with "Chapter One": Chapter One When Grax's delivered a Potentates senate; the and purport, ought retracted the and to Eliminating the words in X's Sequence doesn't help either. Rot12 (the code used to encode "High Regent Xenteroth" by the wall in the RoE): renders our character strings: Rar(l/y)goge(l/a)ahr bs (n/,)aUag(e/r)sge eje(g/g)di(j/p)jhg None of which are promising. They should be reversed from this, but are clearly no better backwards. A case-insensitive rot12 of "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789" converts the sequence to: HH KI KD JP JM JG JM KH JS KI KG FD A case-sensitive rot12 of "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789" converts the sequence to: gg jh jc ip il if il jg iS jh jf ec Neither of these look like anything but accidents. I tried starting with Chapter 9, since it's suspiciously short and is the last chapter. It's too short for the Base 62 shenanigans. Xenteroth's Sequence yields: CChat m dsnt Rot12 of the above is: PPung z qfag Besides the slight possibility Grax is swearing at me, nothing promising. Then I tried rot12 and backwards from the end of Chapter 9, as backwards rot12 was how Xenteroth encoded his name in Eldergrin. Also not promising: ..m lodsscdu which turns into ..z ydqffpqh Both of which don't even look anagram-friendly. There is the possibility instead of Base 62, it's Base 22. Standard hex is base 16: 0-9, a-f. If instead of 0-9 a-z A-Z, it's 0-9 a-f A-F, then it'd be base 22, a weird sort of double hex. That would come out to: *44 = 92 *75 = 159 *70 = 154 *''6c = 144 OR 151'' *69 = 141 *63 = 135 *69 = 141 *74 = 158 *''6F = 153 OR 147'' *75 = 159 *73 = 157 *20 = 44 Both versions up Picking letters I get: dheemeawdhd It's got enough common letters that I doubt I'll get much from rot12ing them. But I haven't yet. Doesn't look like it'll anagram well either. Picking words, I get: if support republic, (purport, OR to) to friendship; to would (the OR was) support senate question You might find it on a Japanese T-shirt, but it's not promising. Oh, and if you rot26 that and convert it into letters, you just get ncxnkekbwar I am amused by the things that keep popping up on the end of my letter spam, but I don't think this one is the ticket either. Blue-green, red-grey, blue-grey, yellow-green. I doubt it's a color code, but just so no one else has to bother looking it up. Deadelfwalking 21:37, February 8, 2010 (UTC) Are we assuming that the obvious/stupid thing (ignoring cases and entering it straight into a hex editor) is a red herring or a trap, even if it gives "Duplicitous" in plain text? AlanChu 23:20, February 8, 2010 (UTC) Wildly unrelated, of course, but the idea of Tiamat and Olidammara teaming up to dick everyone else over makes me cry a little inside. Also, this had better not be chess notation. Deadelfwalking 23:26, February 8, 2010 (UTC) brb crying forever Chimegumi 23:35, February 8, 2010 (UTC) *cough* So anyway, that's awesome, but it's not the end of the puzzle, 'cause it's eleven letters and we need eighteen. Maybe we should try to figure out who the god or goddess of duplicity is. I may mess around with the codes more later if I get really desperate; I'm not entirely sure the code has fully served its place. If you're wondering why I think the book is a code, there's at least one thing that is Deeply Off with it: Grax referred to himself as a mindflayer. There's a chance that it's rhetorical for strange reasons I haven't put enough attention into untangling yet, but I think it's also likely to be a tipoff that something is up with the text. (There is also the chance that the book never saw Grax's attention at all and was entirely ghostwritten without even proper review, or that Grax slipped up because he's a polymorphed lich, but I was starting out with the "book is a coded message" theory and going from there. Chimegumi 02:20, February 9, 2010 (UTC) The symbols in my dream were, from left to right, River, Cuthbert, Brotherhood. If the language directions are right, then there is some link to a river (my goddess?) to Cuthbert to the Scarlet Brotherhood... DuplicitousAnahita is 18 characters. Also Ehlonna, Gruumsh, and Moradin. Goneril. Ganth-il and Rebec-is in the ancient Ille Draconum. Avimeus. AlanChu 03:45, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Karijou walked by me and said "By the way, Chi, based on the spacing on EonRPG's door, the codex could read 'Xenteroth and Ashra'." I think there's one too many spaces on the top line for that to work, though. It's 17 characters instead of 18. Aww. Chimegumi 08:32, February 9, 2010 (UTC) "Elderbrain and Ashra" does work, but at this point I'm just guessing based on spacing and number of letters. Also worth noting that it could also be "(something) and Ethan" and would still work spacing-wise. Chimegumi 08:46, February 9, 2010 (UTC) On the top line? I thought it was a straight 18 character code with A-Z, 0-9 with no spaces or symbols included. Could someone shoot me a picture of the cryptex if otherwise? AlanChu 11:31, February 9, 2010 (UTC) I also thought that. It's split into two lines of nine each on EonRPG's door, but that may be due to space constraints. Also, this is pretty excellent. Deadelfwalking 17:28, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Still pretty excellent, but scratch that: The top line has ten spaces and appears unbroken. The second line has eight and appears to have a break after three spaces. So it looks like this on a quick once-over: __________ ___ _____ Deadelfwalking 17:43, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Fun with spacing guesswork: 10-letter things: *Elderbrain *FakeBaudin *dragonborn *injustinia *revolution *shadowwing *toggenburg *baldurcity *frozenfate *widowmaker *mindflayer 3-letter things (just a few of them): *and *was *not *but 5-letter things: *Ashra *Ethan *Pelor *Nerul (I thought both one-l and two-l were acceptable, but I'm not sure.) *Gucci *human *Ganth "Mindflayer" stands out to me since Grax chose to use it in the text when it isn't how you'd expect him to refer to himself. Since we only get one try, it's not worth going on, but if these are somehow helpful in actual decoding, that's the one that stood out to me. Chimegumi 18:47, February 9, 2010 (UTC) Agreed with below: if this works out to m4rcus f41rl4n, me and my couple of hours of codebreaking attempts will be asking Ethan for a turn at kicking the corpse. Chimegumi 21:35, February 9, 2010 (UTC) More useless strings: *First two letters of each chapter of the book yields: WhThThThAlFoDuThHa *Last two letters of each chapter of the book yields: erldesrearesedesim *First and last letter of each chapter of the book yields: WrTdTsTeArFsTsHm More semi-serious suggestions shared with me by Karijou include "baronganth and ethan (sitting in a tree)" "frozenfate (:) the movie" "lawfulevil see(:) ashra" "hieronious and nerul" "mindflayer ate brain" and "mindflayer ate ethan". My own: "injustinia was today" "elderbrain was smart" Things that make Ethan say, "Oh, THAT." I'm still running on the assumption that the cryptex is spaced in one long line. Some more phrases for those of y'all who can actually decode things to consider: Amulet-y things *(St Cuthbert has fall)en. Nerul(l) will rule all men. *(Moradin has fallen. Ne)rul(l) will rule all dwarves. *Nosrep fle lalah/Halal self prone/Pelor has fallen (14 characters each) (The words 'Halal self prone' have, at one point, detected as evil. More on that as free time warrants -- if I don't get that up within the week (likely), then Ethan will fill you in during the session as needed/here.) Olidammara-y things *(Olidammara made a bet) with Nerul(l). *(NERULLETMARRARESTC)UTHBERT / (NERULLETMARRAESTCU)TH(E)BERT (In Abyssal, 'estcu' is a full word and part of the phrase 'estcu thebert', which means 'made a deal'.) *(The Hall of Many Thing)s Ille Draconum-y things *(Abandon hope, all ye wh)o enter here. (Written on the door to hell -- the door that Gabriel opened by saying 'Nosrep fle lalah.' She also kind of um opened a Fate that way WHOOPS I mean we were going to open it anyway -- uh, anyway.) *(112358132134558914)4 -- Xenteroth's number does not progress in such a way that it fits a limit of 18 characters. *Tiamat will rule all/Portfolio of Jergal (each 17 characters) *'Avimeus Myrkul Halal' -- 18 characters The littlest paranoid deathlock-y things *The ill-gained gift (16 characters) *The Throne of Prime (16 characters) *'The dark tower 311436/371436' -- 18 characters, and I may be able to pinpoint this guess better after speaking with Ganth, but it is a wild flaming guess *The number of the gods: 4 9 13 (semi-incidentally, do we know of any events that took place on April 9 or September 4?) *'Landover King's Reach'/'Graxboro King's Reach' -- 18 characters Note also that the day upon which St. Cuthbert rose after being murdered (perhaps fallen?) is also the day upon which the world is rumored to end, thanks to the Mayan apocalypse whatever information Marcus has -- May 5, year unknown to us, but probably pretty well known to the Nyasans! (e.g. Leilah/Shiolay?) :That will have to come from me via EonRPG. AlanChu 23:53, February 9, 2010 (UTC) To go off on a tangent, we know of incidents wherein both St. Cuthbert and Moradin can be considered to have "fallen", though one is presented in terms of St. Cuthbert triumphing and the other is officially credited as a win for Moradin -- it's only our (DC 40) hunch that Moradin was maybe not so much with the winning. Also, St. Cuthbert's fall is credited to Vecna (another five-word phrase, and interesting that Fab D might be mixed up in this since he's the only devotee of Vecna we've ever come across), as his battle with Nerull was considered a draw. Perhaps we should get more details on that. Given that we have both letters and numbers, we should consider that this might not be exclusively one or the other. I'm hoping we don't have a "britneysgurl98" kind of code going on here. I swear, if this is just one giant string of random numbers or someone's speakstone password as a combination of their first pet's name, the first street they lived on, and their favorite number, I'm going to punch Marcus's corpse stupid. I still have the puzzle that went with "erroneous" from the Ruins, though I don't think that will help us here. Have we considered what might be in here? It's probably in the form of one or two sheets of paper. If we have a suspicion of what it is, it might steer us in the right direction for the solution, since we've already come up with several possibilities. If we want to be super extra ballsy, we can ask Ganth about it. :In a week, we can even ask Marcus about it. I'm not expecting the code from him, but we might be able to get some information about what the code is protecting. Maybe. I hope. Also, for guessing purposes, does Marcus know Ashra besides that I kinda punched him out on top of the tower? We're operating under the assumption this is his codex, which seems reasonable but not certain, and if he doesn't know about me we can discount the stuff about me, etc. Chimegumi 21:40, February 9, 2010 (UTC) : I would say that Marcus has no idea who you are, except we keep running into people who know us despite all expectations (Charilus knowing you, Ganth knowing me, etc.), so I don't think we can be sure. If Fauxdin was going around being all "MEET SHADOWWING, INC." then Marcus will know of you, at least. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) ::Speaking of which, are we going to want to take on another company name soon? Fauxdin may have talked enough about Shadowwing that it's become notorious. Do you remember what exactly was involved in Claire changing us from the Toggenburg Corporation to Shadowwing, Inc. besides changing the name on the spreadsheet and calling ourselves something else when everyone is watching? Chimegumi 00:59, February 10, 2010 (UTC) Also a crazy whim: do we know how births/deaths/etc. are documented in the Eonverse? Does it vary from country to country? Race to race? When was the cryptex invented? Is it a traditional type of puzzle for a particular race? (e.g. 3-D puzzles for angels, emotion stones for mindflayers, puzzles concerning integral parts of society for dwarves, etc.) Also, for clarification, is this cryptex designed such that one incorrect answer self-destructs it? I don't know how it could be and still be scrambled all the time, so that assumption may not be true. If it is set on some neutral string to prevent because one incorrect answer will nuke it, what is the neutral string? If not, what is it displaying? :The way I thought it worked is that if you set it to an incorrect answer and then attempt to open it, it self-destructs, but it can sit on any answer you want as long as you don't try to open it. I am also interested in what it's displaying right now. Chimegumi 21:40, February 9, 2010 (UTC) : Aha. Shows what I know about cryptices. ._. Deadelfwalking 21:58, February 9, 2010 (UTC) : Considering they were apparently invented by Dan Brown, it's not a thing of shame not to know about them. Chimegumi 00:59, February 10, 2010 (UTC) ::Further clarification - the original cryptex in Da Vinci Code (yes, I read it once on an airplane, but I didn't remember this and found it on the wiki page for cryptices) was rigged with vinegar in a vial inside so that any attempt to open the cylinder with trauma would shatter the vinegar and ... well, get the pages inside wet, actually, but the idea was that it'd instantly dissolve them. It wasn't a protection against attempting to open it with incorrect combinations. Since this one detected as magical, I'm assuming it will magically self-destruct the contents if an incorrect code is used to open it, as well as if brute force is applied. Given the way things tend to go, we probably can't dispel it to turn it into a regular codex either (which we could just guess codes on). Note that this is an interpretation of EonRPG saying it was "one of the ones that self-destructs" and I can't remember 100% if he said this was about getting the wrong answer or about trying to force it. So ... I could be wrong, and it might allow testing of different answers, just not bashing it open. Given by my rough haven't-studied-probability-in-ages guess there's 10^28 possible combinations, it wouldn't be too weak if it allows guesswork ... but I really don't want to find out the hard way. Chimegumi 01:06, February 10, 2010 (UTC) Well, this was supposed to be a short list of things and then turned into I HOPE YOU LIKE TEXT. ._. Deadelfwalking 20:36, February 9, 2010 (UTC)